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When more is less: CGI, spectacle and the capitalist sublime

Tuck, Greg

Authors

Greg Tuck



Abstract

This paper explores CGI as a mode of commodity consumption and asks to what extent the consumption of spectacle mimics the notion of the ‘sublime’ and to what extent this ‘sublime’ status can be applied to the commodity form more generally. In particular it examines the dialectic between material sensation (the realm of use) and cognitive abstraction (the realm of exchange) which mimic capital’s ideological sleight of hand which attempts to conceals the quantifiable under the exchangeable within the commodity. Close analysis suggest that such imagery cannot but revel in their ability to both literalise and fetishises number and quantity and hence negate their more properly sublime visual possibilities.

Citation

Tuck, G. (2008). When more is less: CGI, spectacle and the capitalist sublime. Science Fiction Film and Television, 1(2), 249-273. https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.1.2.4

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Oct 1, 2008
Journal Science Fiction Film and Television
Print ISSN 1754-3770
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 1
Issue 2
Pages 249-273
DOI https://doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.1.2.4
Keywords CGI, sublime, spectacle, commodity
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1008812
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/sfftv.1.2.4


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